


synchronicity

by redeyereprisal



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), Vague Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 12:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12726918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redeyereprisal/pseuds/redeyereprisal
Summary: Justine is Caroline, and Caroline is Justine, andthey, she, we, I,do not exist.





	synchronicity

“Choose the inherited skills, inmate!” Caroline barks, and her baton slams against the metal bars of the inmate’s cell with enough force to make him flinch. She scoffs. Only her agitation keeps her from preening. It is rare that she ever gets any such reaction out of him.

From her own position on the other side of the cell, Justine scribbles something onto her ever-present clipboard with an expression of boredom. The inmate’s eyes shift towards her on occasion, but she does not react. His compendium is seated safely atop her Master’s desk. There is, so far as she is concerned, no reason for him to be looking at her at all. It is not until he has rattled off his list of inherited skills that she allows herself to so much as acknowledge his presence.

“Hoh… this Persona will be imbued with quite a bit of power. Are you certain this is the Fusion you desire?” Their Master rumbles from his position across the prison. The inmate hesitates. Justine goes about her preparation of the guillotines as usual, despite his spinelessness; regardless of whether he will perform this fusion or another, the inmate never enters their Velvet Room without purpose. She is certain an execution will be performed, one way or another. Caroline’s lone eye follows her, step by step. Intuiting the path of her sister’s movement as easy as breathing.

“Yes, I’m sure,” the inmate finally says. Their Master smiles. Gestures for the inmate to summon the necessary Personæ. Justine and Caroline’s gazes meet across the glinting Soul-blue metal of the guillotines blades, and—

Velvet melts away into a sea of stars.

For a long, breathless moment, Justine and Caroline do not exist. There is no Velvet Room surrounding them. They are not wardens of a prisoner to fate. There is only the Sea, only _them, her, us, me._ Delicate hands covered by blue silk. The phantom sensation of light on skin. A melodic aria whispering against the edges of existence. A butterfly, or maybe a man. Something arcane and powerful, pushing, _willing._ Reminding. Justine is Caroline, and Caroline is Justine, and _they, she, we, I,_ do not exist. Not now. Not before. Not—

Perched on the razor’s edge of enlightenment, Justine who is Caroline and Caroline who is Justine blink, and the glimpse into existence beyond their duty melts back into the deepest dredges of their consciousness. They take up their positions by their macabre instruments of murder mechanically. Thoughtlessly. Justine’s left foot in front of right, Caroline’s right in front of left, synchronized to the point of perfect harmony. Like a single set of footsteps, rather than the two the inmate can clearly see.

They perform the fusion. Caroline hisses and spits venomous rancor. Justine looks on with apathy, the vaguest sense of disapproval. They do not make eye contact. They ignore the fragmented remains of executed Personæ glittering on their pristine uniforms. They do not mention Caroline’s trembling hands, do not acknowledge Justine’s thin, white lips. They do nothing. They feel nothing. The inmate leaves.

Nauseous with unease, neither tells the other the thought running like ticker tape through each of their heads, simultaneous, complementary:

_What would happen, if it were us, instead of them?_

Behind them, their Master smiles, knowing and dark.

They wonder when the inmate will return.

**Author's Note:**

> Super short drabble I had knocking around in my head and had to get out. I love the twins very much. I was both saddened by and thrilled with their role at the end of P5. It's made me wonder what it was like for them before the truth came out.
> 
> Feel free to talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/redeyereprise) or [tumblr](http://redeyereprisal.tumblr.com/).


End file.
